SPACE — 2024 will be filled with exciting space missions. In 2024 there will be several rocket launches and a mission to the Moon.
The following are several missions to the Moon that will be carried out in 2024:
JAXA missions
The Japanese Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission on September 6 2023. SLIM is currently on its way to the lunar surface.
The spacecraft is scheduled to land on January 19 inside the moon’s Shioli crater. The SLIM mission aims to demonstrate precision landings less than 100 meters from the target.
If successful, SLIM’s touch would mark the first-ever landing of a Japanese spacecraft. If everything goes smoothly, Japan will become the fifth country to successfully land on the moon after the Soviet Union, United States, China and India.
Astrobotic Technology
A company called Astrobotic Technology is also eyeing the moon next year. The company plans to launch its first lunar lander on January 8, followed by a landing attempt on February 23.
The Peregrine lunar lander will carry 20 commercial and government payloads, including a small lunar rover developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientists and a series of small rovers provided by the Mexican Space Agency.
IM-1 Intuitive Machines
The launch for Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lunar mission took place in mid-February. This spacecraft aims to land around the south pole of the moon.
Through a partnership with SpaceX, the IM-1 mission will be the company’s first attempt at landing on the moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Later, this effort will support NASA’s Artemis program and its plans to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon.
China
China’s Chang’e 6 mission is expected to launch in 2024. This mission is the country’s second sampling mission. Lander will collect material from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin on the far side of the moon.
This mission follows the success of the Chang’e 5 lunar sampling mission, which was launched in 2020.
Artemis Mission Update
If all goes according to plan, humans will also return to the moon in 2024. NASA’s Artemis 2 lunar mission will send the first astronauts around the moon in nearly 50 years.
The launch of the Artemis 2 mission is scheduled for no earlier than November 2024. The eight-day mission will take four astronauts around the moon using the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Exploring approximately 10,300 kilometers beyond the far side of the moon, the Artemis 2 mission is the first manned mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. There are four members of the Artemis 2 crew.
2023-12-29 23:30:00
#Series #Missions #Moon #Launched #Space #Space
